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Submitted by Mike Grenville on Fri, 09 Jul 2004 14:44 |
"Every publisher can make money from mobile, quickly and with little investment" is the key conclusion of a new report from the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). Location and context will significantly alter the way media are used in the future says the report but new thinking will be needed not just the repurposing of existing content.
The report called "The Mobile Opportunity," from the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper (SFN) project of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) is available exclusively to WAN members and subscribers to the SFN project. Paris-based WAN is the global organisation for the newspaper industry, that represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 72 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 13 news agencies and ten regional and world-wide press groups.
The SFN project examines more than 50 ideas to do business with mobile telephones. The report says that mobile offers publishers an opportunity to develop more secure relationships with readers and advertisers, develop new revenue streams in media consumption and communication,and provide back-of-house operational efficiencies within the newspaper company.
"Mobile has other benefits as well: it provides a new avenue for gathering information to build knowledge of reader needs and interests; it provides a bridge to the next generation of readers; it is interactive; it can add value to services offered to advertisers; and it can reduce administrative and workflow costs," says the report,
Content Partners
Since the mobile device is attuned to where you are, communication can be tailored to that location.The second is context. Because of the association with place,the communication can be tailored to what you are doing,or could be doing,at that place.
Content and service providers hold the key to the future success of operators and manufacturers. Without content and services, there is no reason for users to spend with them. Mr Sivertsen of Telenor Broadcast says: “The solution for the telecommunications industry is not to become a content provider but to be near to the content industry.
As has been shown on the Internet, publishers need to think radically about the content services they deliver via the mobile phone,rather than simply repurposing their current content to the mobile consumer.
Telenor ’s Rick Brown says:“The question is no longer is it possible to make money from content,but is your content good enough to make money?You must combine the willingness of people to pay with their phone with a whole range of good content.There will be far more opportunities to charge for
content.But it is a tougher job than simply delivering the content that you have today. You are going to have to find new ways to make the delivery of news profitable.â€
Mobile Interaction
With mobile,the natural reaction to a message or alert is to respond so interactivity should be an integral part of any mobile implementation. One editor commented that his daily postbag of letters was 10 letters,his emails numbered 100 but the SMS response was nearer 1,000.
However interactivity requires a whole new way of thinking for publishers and goes far beyond a letters page in a newspaper. One example quoted of a newspaper that has taken mobile seriously is The Times of India, whose mobile services generate 15 million text messages a day.
Do it anyway
Publishers can generate revenue from mobile in a number of distinct ways -- through distribution, service, transactions, spin-off and advertising opportunities. "Anything you do in mobile will be small. Relative to the size of the newspaper operation, mobile revenues will be very low. But do it anyway. They will grow and early entry is essential."
The report provides some specific suggestions to newspapers such as:
- Encourage readers to send in their “First night reviews â€of shows, for publication
the following day. Publish as many short reviews as possible and give prizes for the best review.
- Allow readers to be alerted every time a key word or series of words that are important to them appear in the newspaper. This could be "beckham", "diabetes", "saxophone", "suit sale".
- Help advertisers increase their response by setting up a fast advertisement response system where readers simply dial a short code to receive details of a special offer, or can be sent a mobile coupon that they can use to reclaim a discount or other benefit.
- Re-purpose sports results and match analyses into easily downloadable tables and files that fans can track. Make sport and other newspaper photographs available as downloads.
Newspapers are well placed not just to provide content but to educate users how to access and enjoy it. This should attract the attention of mobile operators who are finding that while consumers have aquired new technologies faster than expected, they have taken longer to adopt all the features on offer. This excellent report provides a range of ideas that newspapers can easily implement; if only a few of them are taken up we should see a lot more creative use of mobile messaging by newspaper publishers in the near future
The report is only available by annual subscription (750 euros). More details here:
www.futureofthenewspaper.com
www.wan-press.org
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